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While Silicon Valley spends billions trying to teach robots how to think, home improvement giant Lowe’s is putting its money on Americans who know how to build.
As artificial intelligence threatens to hollow out white-collar cubicle careers, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison is sounding a wake-up call: AI can write your emails, but it can’t fix your roof.
“We’re a company that believes strongly in the future of AI, but in a world where administrative and analytical occupations are going to be increasingly dominated with the acceleration of AI, we think the skilled trades initiative is going to be even more important here in the near future,” Ellison told Fortune.
“As powerful as AI will become, AI can’t climb a ladder to change the batteries in your smoke detector,” he continued. “It can’t change your furnace filter; it can’t clean your dryer vent; it can’t repair a hole on your roof.”
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Lowe’s also told the outlet that the company is doubling down on the backbone of the American economy, committing $250 million over the next decade to recruit and train 250,000 skilled tradespeople. This includes positions in plumbing, carpentry, electrical work and more.
The goal is to fill the void in the skilled trades workforce. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors and the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, 349,000 new trade skills workers are needed to meet 2026 demand. Specialty trade contractors added just 95,000 jobs since late 2024, and 92% of construction firms have reported difficulty finding qualified talent.
Recent BLS data also shows that 47% of skilled tradespeople now earn more than the median college graduate, with zero student loan interest eating their take-home pay.
While young Americans have been sold on a college career for decades, Ellison, who holds an MBA, is calling for a culture shift. Even his own executives are now steering their children toward trades to avoid the debt-heavy “prestige” trap.
“There’s not that one option is better or worse; it’s all about that there are different paths to trying to obtain prosperity, and we all, me included, need to do a better job of presenting skilled trades as rewarding, viable careers, not just backup plans,” the CEO said. “These trades are really a way to create meaningful wealth for yourself, and it’s a way to earn a very dignified living, and you can do it with a lot less debt.”
“Choose your career path, not from pressure around what you think is the most valuable career or most prestigious,” he noted, “but choose it based on your natural interest in your skill set.”
With $250 million on the table and a looming worker shortage, the message to American families is simple: The most prestigious job in 2026 might just be the one where you wear a tool belt.
“This is going to be so critical to the future, not only of our company, but to our country,” Ellison said.
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